When trying to gain support for war the government framed the nation as a family, working for one cause. They wanted the America people to adapt "The Nation as Family" ideal, so that they will embrace the war as a patriotic duty. The government utilized the process of Echo Chamber. The idea of an echo chamber plays on repetition, If we hear the same language over and over we will think more and more in terms of the terms and frames of that language. This lead to the iconic poster of Uncle Sam calling our young men and women into action. This made Americans, feel like it was their responsibility to help out. Another way to frame a message is by "The Power of Storytelling". Humans by nature adapt a message when it is presented as a story. Storytelling is the essence of human thought and communication. It provides
the framework for fragments, and reveals their meaning.
Interesting. Framing is necessary, though, because if the American government did not use the technique of making service in war seem like the ultimate form of patriotism, very few people would actually serve. Furthermore, it is necessary to first, make a war seem necessary to preserve the existence of freedom as we know it…or at least that is the framing of war campaigns.
ReplyDeleteYour post reminds me of the episode of "The Simpsons" where Bart Simpson, Milhouse Van Houten and some of the other guys Bart hangs out with formed a boy band called the Party Posse. The band's songs and videos were extremely catchy and quickly made the band an instant success. Lisa Simpson, Bart's sister, became extremely suspicious when in the weeks following the boy band's instant success, people began joining the military left and right. One day, Lisa watched one of the band's music videos and noticed the captions ("YVON EHT NIOJ") were a bit suspicious. So, she played the video backward and realized the band's hit songs and videos were all ridden with subliminal messages encouraging people to join the military. That video in particular served as a recruiting mechanism for the navy ("YVON EHT NIOJ" is "JOIN THE NAVY" spelled backward). Lisa then set out to end the brainwashing, and then realized that the band's manager and record label executive was actually a U.S. Navy recruiter. In a nutshell, smart and sneaky techniques were employed to recruit people into the armed forces during that episode. Interestingly, though, it worked. (Check out the song clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kmiw1NmIz0&feature=related .)
Angelica,
ReplyDeleteOften times the media feels they must “frame” an agenda item so society can interpret the news a certain way. I’ve learned in my photography and intro to mass media classes that there are some pictures news companies will not feature in reports because of the emotion they provoke. Producers edit what gets put in the news and how it gets put there; everything is framed to a certain degree.
I know “framing” is when a company consciously sways opinion instead of just introducing an issue. In some cases framing can be a good thing. In my PR Communications class guest speaker Heidi Otway from Salter>Mitchell, a firm that specializes in behavior, spoke about her client, BlueCross BlueShield Association. The company, by way of the firm, framed exercising and eating healthy as being cool and beneficial. They made people with this insurance that being healthy was in style and could be rewarded. They gave incentives to those who adopted the company’s new lifestyle plan.
In closing, “framing” can be detrimental when used incorrectly. The media can be persuasive and society is directly affected by that. It is our job as PR professionals to make sure we are using our tactics positively. Any other use can be damaging.
I enjoyed reading your post.
Jared Floyd
I understand this sentiment well. As a member of the armed forces I am exposed to this particular example of framing on a nearly daily basis. It it important for an organization to use framing, not as a way to make the message sound more appealing, but to insure that it effectively reaches its target audience.
ReplyDeleteAnjelica,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I completely agree. The way we frame things has a lot to do with others' outlooks. A great example of this was mentioned last night at the Student Summit. The conversation was about MSNBC versus FOX News. MSNBC is known for being more liberal and FOX News is more conservative. The way these two networks deliver their message frames an ideology that their audience accepts. Often times, we listen to framed informants who think the same way we do. Great post!
Monica